Swampy
|
|
Swampy (real name Daniel Hooper) is a British environmental protester, or eco-warrior. He became a nationally known figure after spending a week in a complex series of tunnels dug in the path of a new extension to the A30 road in Stanworth, resisting attempts at eviction by police. Several people took part in the protest, but Swampy was the last one evicted. Mr Hooper was originally from Newbury, Berkshire, the site of the protest over the Newbury bypass in 1996.
Swampy's subsequent fame included an appearance on the BBC comedy current affairs quiz Have I Got News for You. He later took part in another tunnel protest intended to prevent the building of a second runway at Manchester International Airport.
When Greenpeace activists invaded the International Petroleum Exchange in February 2005, provoking a brawl with traders who had just returned from a boozy lunch, one trader famously shouted: "Sod Off, Swampy". The line has now been immortalised in t-shirts, popular with those frustrated with extreme environmentalism.
External links
- Article from 1997 (http://archive.salon.com/june97/media/media970605.html)
- Log of Swampy's A30 protest (http://members.aol.com/pp3office/a30-01.htm)
- BBC about the Manchester Airport protest (http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/travel/runway2_history.shtml)
- Another article about Manchester Airport (http://www.oneworld.org/news/reports/may97_car2.html)
- Third Battle of Newbury in the press (http://www.cyberspace.org/~ssark/)
- Whatever happened to Swampy? (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,994224,00.html)
- Sod Off, Swampy (http://www.techcentralstation.com/022105.html)